Next blanks

[lakesman]

Believe you will find this to be an error. A similar thing happened with their PacBay threads, Ebay showed postage of £2.99 for 2 reels, same for all colours, except black where the indicated postage was £24.99!
An email, and an hour later, the indicated postage was the same for all, ie £2.99.
You are dealing with a good company but one whose both spoken and written language is not English, (not even our alphabet!), nor is their currency sterling. Hence the odd typo error is excusable.
A note of caution: as stated by Kingf000, their cork grips may be cheap, but might disappoint!

 

[kingf000]

Exactly what I thought having just had a quick gander around their ebay shop!

Yet if you bought the cork handle from e-bay it would cost you £9.98 but direct from them - £12.76!

 

[lakesman]

Yet if you bought the cork handle from e-bay it would cost you £9.98 but direct from them - £12.76!

Sorry, buying direct, I make it £10.51 or £10.96 depending on full or half wells. In truth, the differences in price between purchasing Direct as compared to Ebay are trivial, furthermore, it is swings and roundabouts. If you are buying a lot then obviously the free postage kicks in with a direct purchase.

 

[kingf000]

Sorry, buying direct, I make it £10.51 or £10.96 depending on full or half wells. In truth, the differences in price between purchasing Direct as compared to Ebay are trivial, furthermore, it is swings and roundabouts. If you are buying a lot then obviously the free postage kicks in with a direct purchase.

Sorry to disagree but the cost of the half wells is 9.19E and the postage they quote on their website 4.99E, total 14.18E. At today's exchange rate that is £12.75. I don't know where you got the £10.51 from unless you thought their prices were in US dollars?
I'm just pointing out that you can't assume that direct purchase from them is the cheapest, though maybe you are so rich that you can afford to throw away nearly £2.77? Me, I'm a Yorkshireman.

 

[lakesman]

Sorry to disagree but the cost of the half wells is 9.19E and the postage they quote on their website 4.99E, total 14.18E. At today's exchange rate that is £12.75. I don't know where you got the £10.51 from unless you thought their prices were in US dollars?
I'm just pointing out that you can't assume that direct purchase from them is the cheapest, though maybe you are so rich that you can afford to throw away nearly £2.77? Me, I'm a Yorkshireman.

If you put the cork handle in your BFC basket, you will see the postage is 2.51euro!!!. 4.99 euro is postage for larger items and does not apply to small items that are obviously cheaper to send. GuidesNBlanks do something similar. But theirs seems to take overall cost of order into consideration, but worth knowing if you only want, say, a couple of guides.

 

[kingf000]

If you put the cork handle in your BFC basket, you will see the postage is 2.51euro!!!. 4.99 euro is postage for larger items and does not apply to small items that are obviously cheaper to send. GuidesNBlanks do something similar. But theirs seems to take overall cost of order into consideration, but worth knowing if you only want, say, a couple of guides.

They must have changed their policy because when I bought one direct from them in February they charged me £12.43!

 

[The Squire]

Yesterday I queried the postage on their kits on the bay which was £24.99 and the guy promptly replied that this was an error and it's now £4.90!
So I pressed the button on the 9' #5 kit, wish me luck!
I've not done any rod building for a good few years, last was refurbishing a Davenport and Fordham 'Avonmaster'. I have got a bit of previous on fly rods having built a carbon 10' #7/8 in the early eighties and my first fly rod on a Fibatube 9'3" #7/8 blank in about '79. Hopefully it's like riding a bike.

 

[JayP]

Yesterday I queried the postage on their kits on the bay which was £24.99 and the guy promptly replied that this was an error and it's now £4.90!
So I pressed the button on the 9' #5 kit, wish me luck!
I've not done any rod building for a good few years, last was refurbishing a Davenport and Fordham 'Avonmaster'. I have got a bit of previous on fly rods having built a carbon 10' #7/8 in the early eighties and my first fly rod on a Fibatube 9'3" #7/8 blank in about '79. Hopefully it's like riding a bike.

Do their kits come with epoxy, thread and finish?

 

[The Squire]

Do their kits come with epoxy, thread and finish?

I’m not expecting the kit to come with the sundries but I’ll let you know when it arrives.

 

[codyarrow]

Next blank ordered. Ordered a reel seat from china, so might be waiting a while for that.
Also ordered a 'plastic chuck' for the rod drying motor. May get a faster motor yet as 4rpm is a bit slow.

Jadrak T-System 3 Jaw Self Centering Chuck for Rod building Dryer (TCK-B) | eBay

It is very light but enough strong to tighten grip or blanks. Size O.D. : 74.0mm /Shaft Dia. Characteristics Scrach free Sticker and Wrench are included.

www.ebay.co.uk

 

[JayP]

Next blank ordered. Ordered a reel seat from china, so might be waiting a while for that.
Also ordered a 'plastic chuck' for the rod drying motor. May get a faster motor yet as 4rpm is a bit slow.

Jadrak T-System 3 Jaw Self Centering Chuck for Rod building Dryer (TCK-B) | eBay

It is very light but enough strong to tighten grip or blanks. Size O.D. : 74.0mm /Shaft Dia. Characteristics Scrach free Sticker and Wrench are included.

www.ebay.co.uk

Put an elastic band around those chuck jaws as they have a tendency to come loose.

 

[lakesman]

Next blank ordered. Ordered a reel seat from china, so might be waiting a while for that.
Also ordered a 'plastic chuck' for the rod drying motor. May get a faster motor yet as 4rpm is a bit slow.

Jadrak T-System 3 Jaw Self Centering Chuck for Rod building Dryer (TCK-B) | eBay

It is very light but enough strong to tighten grip or blanks. Size O.D. : 74.0mm /Shaft Dia. Characteristics Scrach free Sticker and Wrench are included.

www.ebay.co.uk

Those 5 quid microwave motors, bought from China via Ebay, are perfectly adequate, and as such often used. They might have 5/6 rpm stamped on them but actually do little over 4rpm, which is quite ok for a drying rig.

 

[codyarrow]

Those 5 quid microwave motors, bought from China via Ebay, are perfectly adequate, and as such often used. They might have 5/6 rpm stamped on them but actually do little over 4rpm, which is quite ok for a drying rig.

I have a 4rpm microwave motor that I bought of David Norwich. At the time he did say a lot of people find them too slow applying resin. A while back but I think he also sold 30rpm motors as well?

 

[lakesman]

I have a 4rpm microwave motor that I bought of David Norwich. At the time he did say a lot of people find them too slow applying resin. A while back but I think he also sold 30rpm motors as well?

30 rpm! He was possibly referring to a variable speed winding rig, Out of interest the Bloke tutorial video on applying epoxy shows his rig turning at around 6rpm, maybe a little over. I reckon you will find your 4rpm motor perfectly ok, too many people, including myself, use such a motor for it not to be!

 

[codyarrow]

Next blank arrived today. Just over 2 weeks from Bulgaria.
First impressions - packaging was some rolled up cardboard in a triangle shape. It got here, but only just, judging by the cardboard.
Not the most beautiful blank ever produced, but then again it is £35, so no surprise.
There is a small nick in the blank on the join of the top section. Only a couple of mm long, but detectable if you keep your thumb nail on the blank and rotate. It will be covered by the wrap and hopefully will not be a future fracture? I'll let them know of the small defect, but I will probably use it and expect a free replacement if it does go bump. At £35 the guys probably working on small margins so let us hope for the best.
Over all the blank feels ok and I am quite happy with it.

 

[GEK79]

Next blank arrived today. Just over 2 weeks from Bulgaria.
First impressions - packaging was some rolled up cardboard in a triangle shape. It got here, but only just, judging by the cardboard.
Not the most beautiful blank ever produced, but then again it is £35, so no surprise.
There is a small nick in the blank on the join of the top section. Only a couple of mm long, but detectable if you keep your thumb nail on the blank and rotate. It will be covered by the wrap and hopefully will not be a future fracture? I'll let them know of the small defect, but I will probably use it and expect a free replacement if it does go bump. At £35 the guys probably working on small margins so let us hope for the best.
Over all the blank feels ok and I am quite happy with it.

Look forward to the updates lad. Thanks a million...

 

[lakesman]

Next blank arrived today. Just over 2 weeks from Bulgaria.
First impressions - packaging was some rolled up cardboard in a triangle shape. It got here, but only just, judging by the cardboard.
Not the most beautiful blank ever produced, but then again it is £35, so no surprise.
There is a small nick in the blank on the join of the top section. Only a couple of mm long, but detectable if you keep your thumb nail on the blank and rotate. It will be covered by the wrap and hopefully will not be a future fracture? I'll let them know of the small defect, but I will probably use it and expect a free replacement if it does go bump. At £35 the guys probably working on small margins so let us hope for the best.
Over all the blank feels ok and I am quite happy with it.

I thought the olive colour looked rather good, especially with black wraps! However, would not accept an imperfect top section. Better to request a replacement section now. Last thing you want is to spend time building that section only to experience a failure. Spare sections are readily available so pretty sure that they will be happy to send you a replacement if they are made aware that there is a problem with the one you have.

 

[bobfly2]

A few mentions for Taniwha rods and blanks. I have the 10ft 3wt which I use usually with a 4dtf line. Excellent rod !!!

 

[Lewis Chessman]

Hi, Paul, I think lakesman makes a sound point. If you can photograph the nick and send that it may help your cause if something drastic happens later or they may just send a new section.
Regardless, best of luck with the wrapping. Hope you enjoy the process.

Re: Taniwha; I broke the tip section of the 9 ft #4 XT I built back in May by showing it too much heat from the gun (thermostat got knocked up to Full without my noticing!). I got appalling results with faulty co-polymer then the FLC, you may recall? That's when you sent me the Sensei. So I decided to strip it back and do again.
Mark didn't have a spare section but sent me an entire new rod at an excellent price within the week. The original was only £36 so worth considering for an economical build. Never even cast the original so can't comment on that blank yet, though.

 

[codyarrow]

Might have made a mistake not going to Taniwha purely because of the 'everything under one roof' factor. Reel seat not due for a few weeks.